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The Matrix Online (MxO) is a MMORPG developed by Monolith Productions. It is set in the fictional universe of The Matrix and continues the story told in the ''Matrix'' series. The game began closed beta testing in June 2004, and saw a special closed beta test for pre-orders beginning in November 2004. Warner Bros. and SEGA officially released MxO on March 22, 2005 in the United States. It was released in Europe on April 15, 2005. Ubisoft originally planned to co-publish the game with Warner Bros., but backed out of the deal in February 2004 http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/matrixonlinetentativetitle/news_6090026.html. Many gamers believe that this was done in response to the mixed audience reaction to The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, but it was also part of a wider trend for Ubisoft to drop its support of MMOGs. This opened the door for SEGA to become the new co-publisher. On June 17, 2005, Warner Bros. and Sony Online Entertainment, owners of several other online multiplayer game worlds, including EverQuest and Star Wars Galaxies, announced that SOE had picked up the rights from Monolith to operate The Matrix Online. The transition to SOE was completed on 15 August 2005 In this game you can join one of three organizations. They are Zion, Merovingian, and Machine. Zion refers to the people that are awakened from the dream world that is the Matrix. They live in a city called Zion that is the last remaining human city after the war with the machines. Merovingian refers to the awakened people that want to "side" with The Merovingian. Machine refers to the awakened people that want to "side" with the Machines. When you begin the game, you are given the choice of taking a blue pill that will end the simulation (quit the game) and allow you to return to normal life, or a red pill. People that are unaware of the fact that they are in a simulation are often referred to as "bluepills" because they have either taken the blue pill or have not been given the choice. People that are aware of the simulation (players) are referred to as "redpills" because they have taken the red pill or have self-substantiated. You are then taken through a basic tutorial of the combat system. After the tutorial, you are then free to roam the Mega City (the city that the entire Matrix story is set in). Storyline Summary Race to find the One The first major event to occur in The Matrix Online was a "race" between the three organizations to gather Neo's RSI (residual self-image) fragments. The organization that collected the most in a week received a defense bonus. Different organizations won on different servers. Shapers were found that could maniputate the RSI fragments into the shape of Neo's mental projection. Unfortunately some shapers were captured by a fourth party. (believed to be the General) Those shapers were forced to create super-Agents which the organizations worked together to defeat. Morpheus has also complained that the physical remains of Neo were never returned to Zion from the Machine City (Zero One), yet cryptically, the Machines have said that they did not recycle Neo's remains either. Red-eyed Agents The second major event a week later was the appearance of Agents with glowing red eyes. These Agents appeared mysteriously and began attacking all humans, including those allied with the Machines. None of the three factions claimed to be controlling the red eyed Agents, and some believe they serve a new fourth organization. They attacked anyone with an RSI code fragment ("contraband fragments") or anyone attempting to defend them. Later, a message from the Oracle indicated that "intruders" angered by the Truce are behind this, and that somehow Neo split himself up into fragments within the Matrix knowing that it was needed for the future. However, the only way to put Neo's code back together is with the help of programs known as Shapers. Fighting then broke out between the factions for control of Shapers, leading to the Red Eyed Agents capturing a Shaper in the confusion, which allowed them to create a new breed of red eyed agents: "N30 Ag3nts". Soon Niobe sent a message to players to fight the menace along with a new wave of agents which bore a strong resemblance to Neo. Nightfall The third major event, Nightfall, began with the kidnapping of two important leaders from vampire-like and werewolve-like Exiles gangs (the Blood-drinkers and the Lupines, respectively). It was soon revealed that Malphas and his Lupine counterpart Ookami had not been kidnapped at all, but were hiding from the Merovingian. Upon returning, they led a revolt of both gangs against the Merovingian's domination of all Exiles, attempting to rally many humans to their cause. However, while Malphas was absent his subordinate, Invalesco, attempted an underhanded power grab against him, promising to turn humans that joined him into immortal 'vampires' with his source code. He was unsuccessful: upon Malphas's return, Invalesco was hunted down and killed. Amidst this infighting, the Merovingian was able to defeat the uprising and capture Malphas and Ookami. Subjected to torture in the Frenchman's Chateau, they were (for now at least) bent back to his service out of fear, and the attacks ended. Hunt for Morpheus Morpheus stepped up his quest to convince the Machines to return Neo's body. By planting specially coded bombs near places where redpill players were likely to gather (usually hardlines, but later on or near monuments), the bombs would detonate and, while they did no physical damage to the Matrix, spread a virus to any redpills caught in the blast. This virus was designed to reveal the underlying code, showing the bluepills the true nature of the Matrix, causing them to reject it as real, and possibly crashing the system. All organizations were out to kill him. Agents patrolled the streets, as did the Lupines and Blood Drinkers. Another mysterious group emerged during this time, called Cypherites by many players, consisting of masked humans. Not only did they sabotage hardlines to trap people in the Matrix, but they also rabidly hunted Morpheus. Players rushed to defuse Morpheus' bombs in order to protect the truce, while others fought to protect the bombs. On the sixth day of the ten day event, tragedy struck. Morpheus met a mysterious assassin as he set one of his final bombs in a waste water treatment plant. He fled the initial attack, only to be caught off guard when the Assassin caught up to him, apparently able to bend the rules of the Matrix as he slipped through a narrow vent in front of him. He was unable to dodge the onslaught of gunshots. Morpheus was dead. Niobe met with leaders from the machines, who denied involvement. She later formed a faction of her own to track down who had sent the Assassin. The hunt for Morpheus' Assassin was on. Soon, exiles called Corrupted began to appear throughout the Matrix, attacking players at random. It was later discovered that these programs were created by the Assassin in his own image using a "corrupted virus", meaning that the programs' bodies were composed of flies. During the chaos that ensued with the attacks, Agent Skinner, liaison to the Machinist redpills, was permanently deleted by the Assassin. Soon, players found documents on the Corrupted that were attacking them, and piecing the information together from it they learned that killing Morpheus had not been the Assassin's ultimate goal. The Corrupted were designed to destabilize the Matrix upon death, and by releasing them en masse, the Assassin hoped that players killing them would completely destroy the Matrix. The event culminated with much larger versions of the Corrupted, called Complete Corrupted, who could only be destroyed by special pesticide items. All players of all organizations put aside their differences and worked together to defeat these massive programs and restore order to the Matrix. However, with the event over and order restored, one thing remains: the Assassin is still at large. Following the permanent deletion of Agent Skinner, the Machines activated a new Agent as his replacement, Agent Pace. Agent Pace is a 'new style' of Agent, most notably in two ways. First, it is more emotionally expressive. Second, "it" is a "she"; Agent Pace is the first 'female' Agent. Pace's behavior is markedly different from previous models of Agents because she was designed to be "more human". Pace actually smiles on occasion, and behaves almost benevolently toward human redpills under her authority. A hidden message from Agent Pace can be found on the official site, in the "Sentinel" fake newspaper page, by finding the hidden link assosiated with "the Machines"; a picture of her is also there. She seems to have the odd (for an Agent) habit of falling into using Italian words frequently when she is speaking. It's notable that "pace" is Latin for "with peace", commonly taken to mean that no offence is intended by the speaker. Choice and Consequence The crew of the hovercraft Novalis II must try to save the life of their crewmate, Neurophyte. This scenario had alternate ending which played out differently on the separate game servers. However, with the later merger of the 9 servers into 3, plot continuity errors occurred. Walrus, an administrator for The Matrix Online, has stated that the storyline will be dropped instead of fixing the plot conflict. http://s120288583.onlinehome.us/broadcasting/podcast/mp3/mxointerview_walrus.mp3 Double Cross The Cypherites, masked redpills that want to be put back into the Matrix like Cypher once did, begin a string of attacks led by Gemaskeerd and Enmascarado. In the end Enmascarado is killed by the Assassin, releasing a flame virus attached to his body, and Novalis II crewmember Toorima is revealed as a Cypherite leader called Veil, but not before she is able to kill her crewmate Vashuo. The Enigma of Cryptos The Sentinel newspaper says that soon, boxes will appear around the Megacity as part of an "amazement" by a bluepill street magician, Cryptos. A Zion hidden message is in the same Sentinel, and says that Cryptos was the name of a Zion operative who disappeared not long ago. Shortly afterward, boxes appear around the MegaCity as the newspaper said, which opened every two hours with Cryptos inside, who then gives a speech that sounds like it could be Cypherite propaganda, though he never mentions things very specifically. Operatives are sent on missions, and find some clues connecting the Cypherites with Cryptos. Veil of Cryptos Veil is broken out of the Zion prison, and as it turns out, she is the Cypherite mission controller. It is also discovered that Cryptos is the Cypherites' leader. The Merovingian makes something of a truce with the Cypherites, but worked against them as it suited his purposes. The Cypherites eventually discovered this, and their truce was broken. Meanwhile, Zion's main agenda is taking down the Merovingian, and the General's men create more powerful versions of the holy water, silver bullet, and wooden stake killcode items for killing exiles. Meanwhile, The Kid founds a splinter group of Zionites, "E Pluribus Neo" (with his controller, Shimada). This organization is deeply loyal to Neo's vision of freeing humanity and violently opposed to the Cypherites. A Piece of Blue Sky Major Event taking place during May 09 through May 16 2006. Operatives are directed to report any unusual occurrences to their commanding officer (liaison) immediately. There has been much activity in the Matrix leading up to the Anniversary Event, and anticipation is growing amongst redpills across the world. It is rumored that there are disruptions in the Code, Veil and Shimida have been known to discuss the issue to Redpills on the Recursion and Syntax Instance of the Matrix. Also, it has been introduced that there are splinter organizations within the Cypherites and E Pluribus Neo who are willing to go to even further extremes to achieve their goals. While much is going on between all organizations, Niobe and The General are formulating an attack on the Merovingian. With the appearance of the extremist Cypherites known as "Sleepwalkers" attacking unsuspecting redpills in every alley, the activity within the Matrix increases, with many believing the newly sprung concert sites are linked to the Sleepwalkers somehow. On the final day of the event, the concert began, and many redpills do indeed have their worst fears realized. A message blasts out from the speakers, threatening all redpills around and telling them to prepare for reinsertion. Moments later the Sleepwalkers appear en masse to attack the redpills gathered in the parks, or rather to distract them, as the huge concert lights blast out an eerie blue light, destabilizing the Matrix around them. Security officers of a redpill nature appear to fight off the redpills at the lights and re-activate them at every opportunity they get. However, no matter how dire the situation became, the redpills managed to defeat the Sleepwalkers and re-route the power of the lights back into the Sleepwalker forces, re-inserting their bodies but leaving the rest of the redpills unharmed. With the enemies defeated, organisational leaders appeared to congratulate their operatives, and the parties began. Grabbing the General's Stolen Items Now that a firm alliance between Zion and the Commandos is placed between them, the General offers Zion two items that he stole from the Machines (with Zion being unaware of it at the time) under the guise of "cheat codes." Anome, a Zion operative working under Niobe's command, swats out a key as the General throws it to Niobe. In critical missions, the Zion operatives work on recovering the key, while the Machines try to recover it, and Merv operatives attempt to gain it for themselves. On the Vector instance, Zion manages to grab the package from the messenger. Shortly after recovering the key, the Zion operatives give the key to Niobe. The Machine operatives commence a "First Strike" operation against the General by capturing the heliport in Morrell. Saving Captain Niobe Niobe tests out the chemical vials in the package while inside the Bishop Imports building, only to be betrayed by Anome. Every Zion operative that attended this particular meeting are killed in the resulting gunfight. Niobe is trapped on the 29th floor, and all means of reaching her floor has vanished due to a firewall created by the vials. With Ghost playing the role of negotiator, Zion is forced to create a temporary alliance with the Merovingian in order to trace Niobe. Machine operatives do a damage assessment investigation on the effects of the chemicals ingested by Anome's operatives. On the Recursion instance, the efforts given from the critical missions helped Ghost lead a successful rescue operation of Niobe. On the Vector Instance, the General makes a permanent disappearance from the Matrix shortly after Machine operatives catch up to him, hinting at a vague return in the future. Anome's Unlimit After Anome and his men retrieve the case of cheat codes, they drink them and gain super powers and green glowing, code dripping eyes. Anome's men, having no limits to their powers, are named the UNLIMIT by Anome. Anome is no longer considered an operative and is labled by Zion and the Machines as a rogue and a terrorist. Recently, the Unlimit soldiers have been focusing on killing Bluepills by means of taking down the company Pendhurst-Amaranth (P-A), who supply Bluepills with Tastee-Wheat, and manage their water supply. Thanks to numerous missions by Redpills of all organizations, most attempts have failed, though the Zion correspondent from P-A, Brenda Utley, has gone missing. Attempts are being made to track her down and rescue her before Unlimit kill her. There has also been increased Unlimit activity in all areas of the Matrix. Brenda Utley has been rescued by EPN operatives on the Syntax Instance, with the last critical mission on this chapter stating that she found out about an Unlimit mole within the Board of directors. Zion operatives follow up on the lead, trying to eliminate the mole. On the Machines' perspective, they were given a lead by an Unlimit operative named Meillak who had information on Anome's whereabouts. However, Anome caught on and had his loyal operatives attack Meillak. The machine operatives eventually decrypt the clues from various sources on Anome's whereabouts. On the Merovingian's side of things, the Merovingian attempted to synthesize the cheat codes extracted from Beirn, an Unlimit officer who had an obsession with Persephone, but the attempts had failed as Machine operatives had destroyed the manufacturing equipment. As a result of testing the code, the Merovingian was able to detect fragments of the Twins' RSI, with operatives being sent to recover them. At the end of this chapter, the Twins are back and fully functional. Rumors * Neo's ultimate fate has been openly called into question as Morpheus has pointed out that his remains were never returned from 01 (the Machine City) back to Zion, but at the same time the Machines have commented that they did not recycle (liquify for re-use) his body. On an interesting note, there is a newspaper clipping found during a Zion critical mission about a 27-year-old woman named Sarah Edmontons (which is an anagram for Thomas Anderson) waking up from a coma and leaving the hospital on her own. In the text, there was a note written on it asking, "Is this him?" Furthermore, on the Machines' recent set of critical missions, it turned out that Edmontons does not exist in any known database, therefore supporting the speculation that Edmontons is Neo. Walrus has not given any outright comments, but has hinted that Edmontons will play a role in the future. * Excerpts of a "journal" written by the Assassin claims that it was a program in charge of recycling (of human corpses in the power plants) before it went rogue to become an Exile program. They claimed that while the Assassin was still in charge of recycling, it received a command expressly forbidding it to recycle Trinity's body. * Rumor abounds that Agent Pace has some connection to Trinity, either that Pace is somehow really Trinity (or her consciousness) kept alive and turned into an Agent, or that Pace is an Agent created in imitation of Trinity, because Trinity was one of the best Zion field operatives. This rumor was debunked when a screen shot from an in-game event where Agent Pace was present showed that Pace herself stated that Trinity's appearance was not in her codebase. * Many Zion operatives believe Morpheus has, in fact, not met his demise. His remains in the Real have not yet been seen or recovered since his supposed assassination. In the Matrix, his "body" was laid in a church and a funeral was held. His body would, at random, turn into flies. this further fueled the idea that Morpheus was not dead. In his final days, he was reported as saying, "I may have to leave this place for a while to continue my work". This suggests he may have staged his death in an attempt to evade the Assassin. ** Another theory regarding Morpheus is that the Merovingian has somehow captured him, and sent him to the currently inaccessible prison of Blackwood. No movements toward investigating this possibility have been made. *** According to Flood (Merovingian Controller), "We never gave The Assassin killcodes. The bullets we supplied were designed to jam his signal and make it so he could never jack back into the Matrix, therefore causing The Merovingian no further harm." That said, Flood believes Morpheus is dead. *It is suspected that the General and his army of helicopter-riding commandos are actually programs of the massive Sentinel army whose attack on Zion was called off when the Truce began, who exist outside of the Matrix. He has confirmed that he is a program, though "not all bees follow the hive." **The General was not brought into The Matrix by The Merovingian, he has claimed to have used a terminal on the surface to travel. *It is commonly suggested that Agent Smith still exists within the Matrix. Most of these have come about from the various hints that are communicated through the Live Events. For example, on the Syntax instance, former liaison officer DifferenceEngine had to be arrested following his apparent infection (notable from his vocabulary). Further fuel was added to the fire through various hints that Agent Gray, the Machine mission controller, is infected, notable from one of the critical missions in the Hunt for the Assassin event where he possessed the tell-tale vocabulary and acted with un-program-like anger. In addition, Shane Black on the Recursion instance was obviously taken over by the Smith program, as evident by his vocabulary. He was later killed. *Another Liaison officer, TaeCross from the EPN's Recursion instance, was rumored to be working with Morpheus a full year after his last known sighting. After poor dealings with the Machines and repeated setbacks, TaeCross acted out in a Morpheus like attack of code bombs on the city. It is strongly rumored that since the code bomb technology hasn't been seen since Morpheus' disappearance, that TaeCross got this technology directly from Morpheus himself. TaeCross unleashed a final set of 8 code bombs simultaneously at the steps of the First Union Church in Camon Central. His final whereabouts were left unknown. It is also of note that TaeCross is a acronym of Socrates. *Further rumors of Neo's return have sprouted recently, since the Machines have placed Neo's supposedly partially reconstructed RSI in a fight club in Gracy Heights in Westview. This has fueled the idea that Neo is still alive; however, many redpills believe that the RSI is simply a distraction from Neo's ultimate fate. External links * The Matrix Online The official site with news, screenshots, and a forum * The Matrix Online Forum The official Forum * Metacortechs An alternative reality game started from The Matrix Online * The Matrix Online Vault (IGN MxO Vault) The Matrix Online fan site and community resource at IGN. News, interviews with community and developers, guides, screenshots, and special features. * MxO History a comprehensive list of MxO events/themes * Matrix Online Community Wiki a wiki-based fan site. * The Matrix Online Story contains links and details on the entire MxO story. * Matrix Online Resource is dedicated to giving in-depth information about various missions, and tasks in game. de:The Matrix Online fr:The Matrix Online sv:Matrix online Matrix Online Matrix Online Matrix Online Matrix Online Matrix Online Matrix Online Category:Virtual_reality Category:Blog posts